Strict monitoring urgent for ensuring quality of drugs
Strict monitoring on pharmaceutical industry is needed to ensure standard quality and reasonable price of medicines, said speakers at a roundtable yesterday.
They also stressed the need for finalising a law for quick implementation of the National Drug Policy-2016 which was approved by the cabinet in December 2016 and was published as a gazette notice in this March.
The Bangla daily Prothom Alo, and the Directorate General of Drug Administration (DGDA) jointly organised the roundtable at the newspaper's office in the capital.
ABM Faroque, a member of the drug policy formulating committee, said doctors can rely on medicines of only 10 to 12 pharmaceutical companies whereas the country has a total of 246 medicine manufacturing companies.
Licence of the companies which are not maintaining quality should be cancelled, he stressed.
Speaking as the chief guest, Health Minister Mohammed Nasim said, "We have banned around 66 companies which manufactured substandard medicines. But, the illegal companies got back into production by taking stay orders from courts."
He said his ministry sought help from the court for not allowing those companies which lack in infrastructure and capacity.
The minister said a law which has already been formulated to implement the policy is now waiting for approval from the home ministry.
Tapan Chowdhury, managing director of Square Pharmaceuticals, alleged that some unregistered pharmaceutical companies are doing business illegally. Such companies should be banned, he added.
About drug adulteration, Abdul Hai, general secretary of Bangladesh Chemists and Druggists Samity, said the government should identify the companies which are illegally selling imported raw materials of medicines to unregistered companies.
Ghulam Rahman, president of Consumers Association of Bangladesh, suggested fixing price or a price range for drugs on the basis of its generic names.
Mustafizur Rahman, director general of DGDA, noted that manpower shortage in his directorate is one of the major obstacles for implementing the policy.
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